THE CAUSE AND CURE OF FANATICISM

Through ignorance a common man considers his own religion to be the best and makes much useless clamour; but when his mind is illumined by true Knowledge, all sectarian quarrel disappears.

Two persons were hotly disputing as to the colour of a chameleon. One said, " The chameleon on that palm tree is of a beautiful red colour." The other contradicted him saying, You are mistaken, the chameleon is not red, but blue." Being unable to settle the matter by argument, both went to a man who always lived under that tree and had watched the chameleon in all its phases. One of the disputants asked, " Sir, is not the chameleon on that tree of a red colour?' The man replied, "Yes, sir. The other disputant said, " What do you say ? How is that possible ? Surely it is not red, but blue ! The man again humbly replied, " Yes, sir.' He knew that the chameleon constantly changed its colour. So he said ' Yes' to both the conflicting views. God who is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, has likewise various forms. The devotee who has seen God only in one aspect knows that and that aspect alone. None but he who has seen Him in manifold aspects, can say, " All these forms are of the one God, for God is multiform." He is formless and with form, and many are His forms which no one knows.

Dal (sedge) does not grow in large tanks with pure water. It grows only in small, stagnant and miasmatic pools. Similarly Dal (schism) does not occur in a party whose members are guided by pure, broad and unselfish motives. It appears only in the party whose members are selfish, insincere and bigoted.

Is it good to create sects (Dal) ? (Here is a pun on the word dal which means in Bengali both a sect or party and the rank growth on the surface of a stagnant pool.) The 'dal cannot grow in flowing water; it grows only in stagnant pools. He whose heart constantly flows towards the Lord has no time for anything else. He who seeks fame and honour forms sects.

Men may partition their lands by measuring rods and boundary lines, but no one can so partition the all-embracing sky overhead. The individual sky surrounds all and includes all. So the unenlightened man in his ignorance says that his religion is the only true one and that it is the best. But when his heart is illumined by the light of true Knowledge, he comes to know that above all these wars of sects and creeds is the one Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute (Akhanda Sachchidananda).